No more growing pains for the fest

July 18, 2008|By Greg Kot, TRIBUNE MUSIC CRITIC

When the Pitchfork Music Festival returns for its third year at Union Park this weekend, it faces a daunting task: Outgrowing the growing pains.

Last year's festival was a hit, presenting a wealth of terrific music on a weekend notable for its nearly perfect midsummer weather. But it had a few problems that a first-rate festival cannot tolerate. Uncomfortably long lines formed for concessions and bathrooms, the sound system felt puny and serious overcrowding threatened to shut down one of the stages. Was Pitchfork becoming too big too fast?

About 53,000 people from around the world attended the three-day event to watch 39 bands and artists perform. Problems cropped up immediately. Within a few hours on opening night, the sound systems on the two main stages were deemed inadequate and had to be replaced. On the second night, Dan Deacon's set on the third stage was cut short by promoter Mike Reed, who feared that the madly dancing fans would topple a chain link fence and spill into traffic on Ogden Avenue. Such are the unique problems that come with running a festival in the middle of a city, instead of out in the middle of nowhere, a la Coachella in the California desert or Bonnaroo in rural Tennessee.

This year, Reed says, a few lessons have been learned. The smallest stage where Deacon performed, squeezed into a narrow corridor between two fences last year, has been moved to the more spacious southwest corner of the park, where it will be able to accommodate a much larger audience. A better sound system will be in place on all three stages, courtesy of Knox-Array Event Production, the Champaign company that bailed out last year's festival, and Gand Concert Sound of Glenview.

"Nothing sounds perfect at a big outdoor event, but this system will sound as good as anything outdoors," Reed says. "We took it for granted last year that people would do a good job, especially doing sound for an event of this visibility. We know differently now. We learned we have to stay on it."

Reed's micro-managing includes making Pitchfork as green as it can be: Last year's festival recycled one-third of its waste, or about 7 tons. This year, he aims to divert half the waste from landfills. Reed has ordered 33 percent more concessions and cash machines, and there will be 130 portable restrooms, up from 89 last year. The increased amenities and necessities should better serve audiences that will top out at 13,000 on Friday and 20,000 on Saturday and Sunday. That means the festival expects another sell-out, with only $30 single-day passes available at press time.

That's double what ticket prices were for the Pitchfork-curated Intonation in 2005, which Reed also booked. Operating costs have increased significantly since then with higher gas prices and more festivals competing for bands. Reed says guarantees to bands are up 50 percent from where they were three years ago. But Pitchfork still manages to do more with less than any other festival; at $65, its three-day pass (which sold out weeks ago) is roughly one-third the cost of Lollapalooza's.

The more modest budget also means that Pitchfork doesn't have the financial clout to book some bands on its radar, even relatively small ones; the members of the Brooklyn, N.Y., band Yeasayer say they turned down Pitchfork's offer in favor of a substantially larger guarantee from Lollapalooza.

"It's crazy when you think about the competition for bands who are not Radiohead-level headliners, but Empty Bottle-sized acts," Reed says. "The competition gets tougher every year."

Fortunately, Reed says, "we're not built on headliners."

"We don't have to spend the big money like other festivals do. Our headliner might play at 6 p.m. [in the second or third slot] at Lollapalooza. We're more about building a day of music that's solid top to bottom."

Facts to know: There will be protected bike parking, you hipster. CTA Green or Pink line to Ashland Avenue, No. 9 bus to Lake Street and Ashland Avenue. No re-entry into the fest, period. For the list of prohibited and non-prohibited items, visit http://pitchforkmusicfestival.com/general.php. You can bring your own sealed, bottled water.

Spending your time, hour-by-hour

* Greg Kot's 10-must-see sets

A = Aluminum Stage

B = Balance Stage

C = Connector Stage

FRIDAY

6 p.m. Mission of Burma performing "Vs." (C): The Boston post-punk legends released only one album in their first, early '80s incarnation, and it remains a perfect marriage of experimental mayhem and anthemic melody.

7:15 p.m. Sebadoh performing "Bubble and Scrape" (C): This wouldn't be my first choice for classic-album status in the Boston band's history (I'd vote for "III" or "Bake Sale"), but the band's influence on the low-fi movement can't be denied.